Birds of Reston, Virginia: Tufted Titmouse (Baeolophus bicolor)

The first part of this common Northern hemisphere bird’s name comes from an older, less titillating definition of “tit,” meaning something small. The second is from the Old English word for bird, mase. The word mase became mose and then, four hundred or so years ago, transformed into mouse. Because, hey, why not call birds and rodents by the same name?

The tufted titmouse lives throughout much of the eastern United States. “Tufted” was added to “titmouse” to indicate the cute little plume at the top of its head, which gives it a silhouette similar to a cardinal or cedar waxwing.

The tufted titmouse isn’t closely related to either of those birds, however. It is smaller than a cardinal and more akin to chickadees, which share the Paridae family of birds with it.

I spot tufted titmice occasionally in Wisconsin, but I’ve seen them almost daily while visiting Reston. That makes sense since their preferred habitat is deciduous and mixed forest.